Page 25 of Lilly
“Lucas, I don’tthink-”
“Just get in. I’ll behave, I promise.” There’s a twinkle in his eye as he says this that makes me question hissincerity.
I stare at him for a few seconds as I try to tell myself to leave. But Ican’t.
I slip my shoes off and slide in next tohim.
Lucas
Idon’t putmuch thought into the fact I don’t want her to leave. It was bad enough that I woke up earlier with only a note to say she’d left to greet me. I’m keeping her here thistime.
I don’t waste any time moving her so her back is tucked to my front. It’s not what I really want to do, but it’s all I’m allowing for a number of reasons. Mostly because I promised I’d be good. Smelling like vomit is also pretty high on mylist.
I don’t remember falling asleep, but it must have happened pretty quickly. I can’t recall the last time I was ill, but I don’t think I’ve ever felt this drainedbefore.
It’s a fight to pull myself from my sleep, but I can hear my phone ringing. I push the haziness away, drag my eyelids open and swing my legs from thebed.
I eventually find my phone down the side of the sofa. It’s unlike me to leave it lying around; it’s usually no farther than a foot away from me at all times. I blame Lilly—she’s messing with myhead.
When I look down, I see it’s the manager of our hotel in Yorkshire. “Dalton,” I bark into the phone. I don’t mean to be rude, but it’s three o’clock in the fuckingmorning.
“I’m sorry, Sir,” her timid voice says on the other line. “But there’s been afire.”
Shit. “Howbad?”
“Bad. I think you’d better get uphere.”
“On my way,” I say, already walking back towards the bedroom to findclothes.
I’m dressed and out the door in ten minutes. I feel better than I did yesterday, but not much. I push thoughts of my dodgy stomach down as I race towards the underground garage. I floor the accelerator of my Jaguar and head out into thenight.
Thoughts of the mess I might find when I eventually arrive are forgotten as the image of Lilly’s blonde sleep-messed hair filters into my mind. I tried to slip out without waking her but just as I was about to leave I heard a sleepy voice whisper myname.
“I’m sorry, beautiful. I’ve got to go—there’s been a fire and I’m needed.” My words made her situp.
“Where? Is everyoneokay?”
“I don’t know any details yet. I’ll ring you when I can. Go back to sleep.” I gently pushed her back down to the pillow before pressing my lips to her forehead. I wanted to pick her up and take her with me, but I knew I couldn’t. I wasn’t going for a jolly; I was going to assess the damage to our most lucrative hotel and hopefully not have to organise rebuilding it from the groundupwards.
After a few seconds, I pulled away and walked straight out. If I’d have looked back and seen her, it would have stopped me going. That realisation hits me hard. Since the day I started in our family business, I have always put work first. I wanted to show my parents they hadn’t made a mistake in giving me a chance. I wanted to prove to them that I could be a better person, someone they could be proud to call their son. Not the walking disaster that I had been. I’ve never lost focus, but there I was, questioning whether I should take her with me or say fuck it and let someone else handleit.
“FUCK,” I shout when I turn up the driveway to the hotel and see smoke bellowing from the top. All thoughts of Lilly are immediately banished as I look at everything me, my dad and his dad built smoulder in the heat from theflames.
The place is a mess. It’s going to need a lot of work before it’s fit to have guests staying in again. Every square inch of the place is going to need redoing. I just pray that the structure of the building is safe and we won’t need to do any major buildingwork.
The day is long and stressful—not one I will ever look back fondly on, that’s for sure. Once I have as much sorted as I can with the fire brigade, police and members of staff that are still hanging about to help, I book myself into a local hotel to get some rest, ready to start all over again tomorrow. Hopefully, I’ll be able to properly assess the damage better and make some kind ofplan.
My arse barely touches the sheet covering the bed when my phone startsringing.
“Mum,” I state as I put it to my ear. I’m too exhausted to be bothered withpleasantries.
“Your dad wanted me to let you know that he’s just left. He’ll be with you in a few hours. How are youfeeling?”
“Better than yesterday,” I answer. It’s the only slightly positive thing I can think tosay.
“That’s good. How about the hotel? Is itsalvageable?”
“I haven’t got any details yet. They’re still investigating the fire, but the fact the sprinkler system didn’t go off isn’t helpful. The police are concerned it might have been done onpurpose.”
